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<title>Why does Colonel Roderick Decker hate Colonel John Smith so much? by julliangray</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22739791">Why does Colonel Roderick Decker hate Colonel John Smith so much?</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/julliangray/pseuds/julliangray'>julliangray</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The A-Team (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Multi, Vietnam War</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 18:54:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,282</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22739791</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/julliangray/pseuds/julliangray</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Title says it all</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Roderick Decker/Templeton "Faceman" Peck, Templeton "Faceman" Peck/John "Hannibal" Smith</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Why does Colonel Roderick Decker hate Colonel John Smith so much?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"I still don't like the idea of you leaving my unit."</p><p>"I'll be careful. I know how to take care of myself, Sir." Lieutenant Peck smiled as he looked into his lover's bright blue eyes. "This isn't my first time out in the field, you know. I do have some experience."</p><p>"It's not you that I'm worried about," the Colonel whispered into his Lieutenant's ear before he moved to kiss down the younger man's jawline. "I know the son-of-a-bitch you are being assigned to. He's a good man, and he's a hell of a leader, but he takes too many risks." The Colonel's larger hand reached up to cup the younger man's face, turning his head so that they were looking each other directly in the eyes. "I won't lose you so that he can feed his own ego. You mean too much to me. "</p><p>"You won't lose me." Peck wrapped his arms around his lover's neck and pulled him down so that he could kiss him hard. "I'll be gone for two months at the most. I promise, Rod.  I'll help his unit out until he can find a new supply officer, and then I'll be right back here with you."</p><p>"You better be, kiddo," Colonel Roderick Decker growled right before he attacked the younger man's mouth with his own.</p><p>*****</p><p>Two days later</p><p>"Well, what a surprise this is," Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith laughed as he held out his hand to Colonel Roderick Decker. "When I heard that I was getting a Lieutenant from your unit, I never would have thought that you were going to deliver him to me in person. Long time, no see, Rod."</p><p>Colonel Decker looked at the offered hand for just a moment before he took it, though instead of giving the other man a welcome as he had received, he leaned forward and whispered a warning in his ear.</p><p>"I want that boy back exactly how I am giving him to you in two months. Do we understand each other?"</p><p>"Now, Rod, what's this? You know I'll watch out for the kid. I always look after my boys."<br/>Decker leaned back so that he could stare the other man in the eyes.</p><p>"I mean it, John. Not one hair messed upon his head."</p><p>"He's special to you, then?" Hannibal asked as he raised an eyebrow, an unspoken question being asked between them.</p><p>"Very."</p><p>Hannibal nodded as he squeezed the other man's hand.</p><p>"I understand."</p><p>"Good!" Decker nodded before a smile crossed his lips, and he threw his arm over Smith's shoulder. "Now, how about you buy me a drink before I have to head back?"</p><p>********<br/>Later that evening</p><p>"So, how long have you been with Rod?" Hannibal asked as he looked at the young Lieutenant sitting across the desk from him.</p><p>"In what way, sir?" Peck asked as he took a drink of his coffee. He was pretty sure he knew what the other man meant, but he wanted to make sure before he said anything else.</p><p>"Both." Hannibal smiled, appreciating the fact that the kid was careful. "Professional and personal."</p><p>"I've been in his unit for ten months." Peck leaned back as he thought about how to word the next sentence, but the other man helped him out.</p><p>"And you've been under his wing for how long?"</p><p>"Four months."</p><p>"I'm impressed!" Hannibal leaned back in his chair and lit a cigar. "We could only stand each other's company for two."</p><p>"You and Colonel Decker?" Peck looked at the other man, not believing what he was hearing.</p><p>"Me and Rod." Hannibal chuckled at the younger man's surprised look. "But that's not important. The past is the past, and I wish you two the best."</p><p>"Thank you, sir."</p><p>Hannibal smiled as he sat up and leaned across the desk.</p><p>"Now tell me: are you as good with that sniper rifle as your file says you are?"</p><p>"I'm the best, sir. Just ask my CO," Peck smiled.</p><p>******</p><p>Three weeks later</p><p>Peck sighed as he entered the dark confines of his tent. He'd had a hard day running Smith's grueling training course under the hot, humid Vietnamese sun, and all he wanted to do was drop down into his cot and sleep for the next ten hours, so what happened next completely took him off guard.</p><p>"Don't you believing in saluting a superior officer anymore, Lieutenant?" a gruff voice growled in Peck's ear as a hand landed on the younger man's shoulder, spinning him around.</p><p>"I'm sorry, sir! I didn't see.." Peck started and then stopped as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, and he noticed that it was his lover standing there with a broad smile on his face.</p><p>"Rod, you scared the hell out of me!"</p><p>"Watch your language, Lieutenant," Decker laughed as he hugged the younger man tight.</p><p>"God, I've missed you!" Peck tightened his arms around the other man so that he was even closer to him.</p><p>"The same here, kiddo," Decker whispered before he dipped his head to kiss his lover while maneuvering the two of them over to the Lieutenant's cot. As soon as Peck's knees hit the edge of the cot, he collapsed onto it, with Decker coming down right on top of him. "I can't wait until you are back at our base and back in my unit where you belong."</p><p>"You're not the only one!" Peck looked up into the blue eyes of the man he loved. "Smith is such a pain in the ass. No matter what I do, he's never happy."</p><p>"I find that hard to believe," Decker frowned as he noticed the sadness in the younger man's eyes. "You're one of the best lieutenants I've ever had under my command."</p><p>"You're wrong. Smith criticizes everything I do. He asked for a case of ammo, so I got him two, and you know what he did?  He asked me why I didn't get the extra guns to go with it!  I swear, Rod, if I got the man water in the desert, he would want to know where the ice cubes were."</p><p>"I know Smith can be a pain, but he's not that bad."</p><p>"You want to bet?" Peck frowned.<br/>"I'll talk to him."</p><p>"No, you won't!" Peck almost knocked the older man off as he quickly tried to sit up. "I plan on showing that son-of-a- "</p><p>"Lieutenant!"</p><p>"Sorry, Colonel," Peck took a deep breath and let it out. "I plan on showing Smith that I can get anything he needs and more."</p><p>"I'm sure that you can, kiddo, but you only have a few more weeks in his unit, and you will be back with me." Decker leaned forward and kissed the younger man hard as he lowered him back to the cot. "Exactly where you belong..."</p><p>*****<br/>Two months and one day after Peck arrived in Smith's unit</p><p>"Where the hell is my Lieutenant, Hannibal?" Decker snarled as he stormed into the man's tent.</p><p> "I told him that you could have him for two months, and that was it."</p><p>"I didn't realize that the kid was out past his curfew and needed to have an escort home." Hannibal laughed as he leaned back in his chair and lit a cigar.<br/>"I'm not playing games with you, Hannibal! I know what that boy is capable of, and I know how well he can do his job, and I want him back in my unit where he belongs."</p><p>"You do know that he belongs to the military, and not you personally?"</p><p>"I'm not playing games, Smith. I want him back NOW!"</p><p>"Okay, okay, Rod; I'm just yanking your chain." Smith held up his hands in surrender. "You're right. The kid is extremely talented, and I can see why you want him back so bad. But I need him, Rod, I have a real tough mission coming up, and I need him to pull it off. "</p><p>"No."</p><p>"Damn it, Decker! I've looked all over for a replacement that has the same ability that kid has with a sniper rifle, and there is no one. I promise you: as soon as I pull off this mission, I'll hand deliver him to you."</p><p>"No."</p><p>"Rod…"</p><p>"No!"</p><p>Hannibal threw up his hands in defeat.</p><p>"Please tell me what the hell I'm supposed to do, then."</p><p>"It's not my problem. I'm taking the boy back with me tonight."</p><p>"Have you even bothered to ask him what he wants?"</p><p>"Yes, I have," Decker sighed as he dropped down in the chair across from the other Colonel, all his anger seemingly spent. "He wants to go. For some strange reason, he now has this ill-considered concept that you can do no wrong."</p><p>Opening the large bottom drawer in his desk, Hannibal pulled out two glasses and a bottle of scotch. After filling one, he slid it to the other Colonel before filling his own.</p><p>"I see he's been supplying you with more than just the necessities for your unit to function."</p><p>"He does have a very gifted talent for procuring things that people might need and want."</p><p>"You're allowing him to develop some bad habits that I am going to have to break when he gets back into my unit."</p><p>"He's a good kid, Rod."<br/>"I'm more than aware of that, and I want to keep him that way." Decker stared the other man directly in his eyes. "I don't want what him turned into one of the malcontents that you seem to attract."</p><p>"I promise to take care of him."</p><p>"I swear to you, Hannibal; if anything, and I mean anything happens to him, I will never forgive you." With that said, Decker downed his drink and left the other man's office.</p><p>*******<br/>Eight months later</p><p>"I'm sorry, Rod." Hannibal tried to apologize, but the other man wouldn't hear one word he had to say.</p><p>"I should shoot you where you stand," Decker growled as he looked down at the emaciated body of the man he loved, his fingers lightly brushing over the bruised cheeks and closely-shaven head.</p><p>"We were..."</p><p>"He won't talk to me, Smith; he won't even look me in the fucking eye!" Decker snarled as he grabbed the other Colonel by the front of his hospital pajamas. "All he will say to me is that he is tainted!"</p><p>"Rod…" Hannibal tried again, but there was no stopping the other man's fury.</p><p>"Have you heard him scream at night? Have you?"</p><p>"Yes, I have," Hannibal closed his eyes as he remembered holding the younger man in his arms after he had come back from the interrogation room. Not only had he heard the young lieutenant scream, but he had also held him when he had cried, and he had seen the look of hopelessness in the kid's eye as Peck told him that his lover would never want to touch him again. "He fought so hard against them. You would have been so damn proud of him."</p><p>Decker shoved the other man away from him as he turned to look at Peck lying motionless in the bed, sedated so that he could heal without the constant pain his injuries caused him.</p><p>"I've always been proud of him." Again, Decker's hand moved to the shaven head. "He told me that we are over; said that I could never love him the same way again." Decker dropped down in the chair beside the lieutenant's bed and covered his face with his hands.</p><p>"Give him some time, Rod." Hannibal placed a gentle hand on the other man's shoulder and was shocked to find trembling. "He knows how much you love him."</p><p>Rod shook his head as he took a deep breath and stood up so that he was again looking the other man, blue eyes staring into blue.</p><p>"You're right, Smith, I do love him, but he doesn't love me anymore."</p><p>"Rod…"</p><p>"Do you know who he called out for when he came out of surgery? Do you know who he begs for in his sleep?" Decker glared at Smith. "You!" The words were spat out with so much venom that Hannibal was taken back.</p><p>"He might be telling himself that he is no good for me to protect me, but on some fucking level, he's fallen in love with you."</p><p>"Rod, it's just the stress of what has happened. I was there when he needed someone. He's just…"</p><p>"No, Smith, I knew that he would fall for you. You are everything that I'm not, and I knew that he would be attracted to that." Decker stabbed his finger into the other man's chest. "And you know it as well as I do."</p><p>Hannibal couldn't say anything. Decker was right. He had fallen for the kid the moment he had seen him, and he noticed that the younger man was starting to show signs of being interested in him.  But it wasn't until the camps that he had confessed to the young lieutenant that he was in love with him in hopes that the other man would try and hold on until he could figure out a plan to escape.</p><p>"I'm sorry," was the only thing that he could say.</p><p>Decker took in a deep breath and let it out very slowly before he spoke.</p><p>"I swear to you, Smith: if you ever screw up, I will be there, and I will nail your ass to the wall."</p><p>That said, he turned back around and placed a gentle kiss on the younger man's forehead. "And you better take care of him, because if you hurt him, I will kill you."</p><p>Having nothing more to say, Decker left the one man he would ever truly love.</p><p>End</p>
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